Biden to Appear on Sitcom 'Parks and Recreation'

Daniel Halper

November 8, 2012 9:01 AM

Vice President Joe Biden will be a guest performer on the sitcom Parks and Recreation later this month. The spot was filmed over the summer, but kept silent in order to avoid having to give equal air time to Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, the New York Times reports.

"With the race won, a guest appearance by Mr. Biden on the NBC comedy 'Parks and Recreation,' filmed way back in July, can finally be revealed," reports the Times. "Everything about the scene, which the executive producer of the show, Michael Schur, labeled a 'scenelet,' had been under strict secrecy. The show was warned that if any word leaked out before the election, some provision might have to be made to give the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Representative Paul Ryan, a similar cameo."

The episode will air in a week. "The re-elected vice president will make a guest appearance on the episode scheduled for Nov. 15 on NBC. He is playing, yes, Joseph R. Biden Jr., the one who has frequently been mentioned in a running joke on the show as an object of fascination — and a little love-struck passion — by its lead character, Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler," according to the Times.

Two slightly different versions were filmed to account for winning or losing the November 6 election.

"[T]he scene was shot in Mr. Biden’s ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, all hush-hush. And it went well, according to at least two of the people who were there," reports the Times.